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Finding your next product job – your resume

I live outside Des Moines Iowa in the United States where the unemployment rate is currently hovering around 3%. That would tend to lead you to believe that it should be a job seekers market and that it should be real easy to find a product job when you want one.

That’s somewhat true. There are a lot of jobs out there. The question is whether there are a lot of the right jobs out there.

If you’re currently in a gig that meets your basic needs but isn’t the most fulfilling, or you’re looking to make a specific change in your career you’re going to be a bit more particular, and you should. But that also means that you’ll be looking at those opportunities along with a lot of other people who have similar or even better-aligned backgrounds and skill sets.

The secret to success in getting the right opportunity, whether it be full time or your next freelance gig, is setting yourself apart from the other product people suggesting themselves for the same opportunity.

One of the ways you can differentiate yourself is via your resume and LinkedIn profile. With that in mind, here are some resources I found provide helpful advice for crafting your resume and LinkedIn profile. Hopefully, you find them useful as well.

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By using the standard PM questions that you normally ask yourself while working on a new product, you’ll not only make your resume better but also demonstrate your PM skills in action. You’ll show your ability to communicate in a clear and concise way, to design tastefully and to be detail-focused and data-oriented.

The ultimate product manager resume guide

Product managers are products – for you to successfully sell yourself as a product, you must signal your value, and resumes are one of the most effective ways to signal value. Most product manager resume guides tell you which buzzwords to use in your resume, or what spacing and font you should use, or what side projects you should tackle, or which classes you should take. Clement Kao disagrees with that approach, because he believes product management is fundamentally about processes and frameworks, not about outcomes. Clement walks you through the process of creating an effective resume that authentically displays your true value proposition as a product, so that you can demonstrate your unique value in a crowded marketplace of product talent.

What a good product manager resume looks like and how to write your own

5 Skills Product Managers Should Put on Their Resume

Lots of people want to be product managers these days which means more people are looking for product management jobs. The best product managers focus on results — value you delivered to customers, the company, and your team.

How freelancers should create LinkedIn profiles

Many product people have made a successful career as freelancers, going from one product gig to another. If you’re one of those freelancers, you may have found that it’s important to cultivate your network even when you’re in the midst of a fulfilling gig. LinkedIn serves as your ever-present resume to help clue people in on your experience and establish connections that can help you find your next gig.

The problem you face is that if you only have one Experience section for your freelance work, you might not reap the full benefits of LinkedIn search. However, if you list them all out individually, your LinkedIn profile is hard to read.